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NB: This newsletter is published every Monday. Point your browser to www.tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets to read at least ONE new post added to my SD Nuggets blog on a different category from Tuesday till Saturday (sometimes even Sundays) in line with this publishing schedule 
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IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS newsletter is published online on the “reincarnated” version of my Self-Development (SD) Nuggets blog. I continue to put finishing touches to the content. If you encounter ANY bad/dead links, and you can spare the time, email them to me via tayo at tksola dot com. Thanks in advance
No. 177: To Be Unstoppable, You Must Be Incomparable!
Those who become unstoppable at what they do, often stand out from the crowd, in terms of their demonstrated abilities, and achievements. In other words, they are incomparable. By implication, their names come first in people’s minds, ahead of any others who do what they do.
One person I believe really personifies this concept is Muhammad Ali.
He’s been described as having one of the most recognizable faces on the planet. But it was not his good looks that earned him that positive notoriety he enjoys today.
Muhammad Ali brought unique creativity and passion to what was a relatively unexciting sport at the time.
Ali boxed, but he chose to do his boxing in a very unconventional way that made him stand out from other boxers.
Among other things, he “talked a lot” to psyche out his opponent – but he did it in a very entertaining way.
However, the best part was that he often delivered what he promised in the ring, and that added to his appeal. As a result, he got noticed more than other boxers, and that drew crowds to watch him, and it also drew the media to seek him out for interviews.
Despite losing about 7 years in his prime (when he was banned from boxing for Army “draft evasion” – which he later overturned in court) Ali won back the title he was stripped of, and remained a dominant figure in boxing for years till he retired.
That’s why, for me, Muhammad Ali symbolized word “incomparable”.
Everybody agrees that the period Ali reigned was one of the most exciting and entertaining periods in this history of boxing.
A good place to appreciate the amazingly unique impact Ali had on the sporting world in general (and also human rights activism) is this Wikipedia article (click to read).
Bruce Lee was also incomparable at what he did – and remains so till this day.
Many decades after his death, he continues to be copiously quoted, and referred to, even outside his formal field of martial arts.
Even today, new video games, magazine covers and other art works are dedicated to him Champions in Mixed Martial arts and other fighting sports, have been repeatedly quoted as saying Bruce Lee was their inspiration when they were starting out.
Everybody agrees that when talk about Martial Arts comes up, Bruce Lee is the first name that comes to mind – even for young people who were not born, when he was alive!
Being incomparable implies being one-of-a-kind – BUT that’s NOT easy to achieve!
All those I have described above were one-of-a-kind at what they did, and it earned them valuable patronage from their target audiences.
Keep in mind however, that those who become “incomparable’ tend to be in the minority i.e. they tend to be few in number, because it take a LOT OF HARD WORK, to get that way!
We all know that a large majority of people in society are often not ready (even when they say they are), to relentlessly push themselves to the limits of their abilities, in order to achieve.
Most people want success, but not many are not willing to CONTINUE doing the hard work needed to achieve LASTING, reproducible success.
This is why those willing to push themselves to the limit, enduring any hardship involved, till they succeed, are the ones who end up being called incomparable, or one-of-a-kind.
Those who become that way simply leverage their unique abilities and strengths, to make them stand out.
So, what can you do to become incomparable?
Forgive me for being presumptuous, but I assume that you’ve read up till this point, because you’d like to be unstoppable, by becoming incomparable…
I believe there is no one way to do it.
However, one strategy that will prove valuable to those aspiring to become incomparable, based on my personal experience, is “Power Positioning”.
Power Positioning works for anyone, in any field, and in any market – no matter where you are in the world.
It entails carrying out a deliberate series of actions that, over time, will make your target audience put you ahead of any others they may be aware of.
I first learnt about Power Positioning in Michel Fortin’s Ten Commandments of Power Positioning E-book. It’s available as a FREE PDF online. Just Google the title.
I AM incomparable at what I do – and YOU can be, at what YOU do as well!
That’s why my clients are often compelled to evaluate what I offer on its own merit – rather than comparing with others!
In a recent article, titled Creating Demand for Custom Automated Spreadsheet Software Solutions in Nigeria/Africa (True Story by Tayo K. Solagbade), I told 3 true stories about how I have had to respond to inquirers from different countries, surprised by the quality/volume of my online content, and especially the degree of sophistication of my custom Excel-VB software.
Last week, a poultry farm CEO, who told me he also chairs the board of a Nigerian software company that markets a Canadian firm’s products, called and spoke with me for over 30 minutes about my Poultry Farm Manager.
At a point, he asked if I did my own coding, or if I simply sold apps built by a foreign partner.
That was a question I was used to hearing
It gets asked so often, because it is more the exception, than the norm, to find a Nigerian or African offering custom Excel-Visual Basic software like mine for sale to a global audience.
My answer to his question was YES: I am a self-taught Professional Spreadsheet Solutions Developer
I began developing custom spreadsheet apps for business users way back in 1995, in my free time as an employee in Guinness Nigeria.
Note that I was employed in the brewing department, as a brewer/line manager, and not in Information Systems!
As you can imagine, even as an employee, that ability made me incomparable:
NO other person in that company – not even the guys in the IT department – could do what I did in terms of spreadsheet automation.
That was why when the company decided to move from Lotus SmartSuite (I began with Lotus 1-2-3), to Microsoft Office, my apps that were then in use, had to be sent to Guinness’ UK office.
The users told the IT department they were too useful to be discarded. So the UK office arranged a developer to convert my Lotus 1-2-3 apps to MS Excel equivalents.
I was promoted around this period (to Technical Training & Development Manager – TTDM), and seeing the changes happening, I proactively invested hundreds of hours learning MS Excel Visual Basic.
Before leaving the company to start my own business, I’d learnt enough to build (in my after office hours as TTDM) a Training Records Database, that was deployed across the brewery’s intranet (with help from my friends in the IT department), for use by department heads during the ISO certification audits.
The above story about my time in paid employment proves that being incomparable is a NEVER ending process.
You must continually work to keep yourself that way!
In my case, I quickly upgraded my skills to make use of the new platform adopted by Guinness Nigeria, to ensure I remained RELEVANT to the needs of users in that unique area!
That action paid off so well, for me, that my name got known well beyond the Nigerian offices of Guinness – with valuable career advancement opportunities rapidly coming my way as a result.
Today, I function as a Location Independent Multipreneur, serving Farm CEOs with multidisciplinary solutions across societies within and outside Africa.
One key aspect that sets me apart is that I offer for sale, customizable Excel-VB driven software for use by farm businesses and others.
Popular ones include my Payslip Generator, Ration Formulator and the Poultry Farm Manager.
However, I also build new apps for client hotels, restaurants/bars, engineering firms etc.
For instance, I am currently in discussions with a Financial Consultant, who wants me to build a custom app, branded in his company’s name, which he will sell to clients, for use in auto-generating financial reports and tax summaries, using daily entries.
My versatility, from years of serving clients in many different industries, equips me to help clients with such uniquely personalized solutions
Little wonder that he started by hiring me to develop a Web Marketing System (WMS) for his business. Apart from marketing his services, we will use the WMS to promote the app for sale.
In essence, I am like a one-stop solutions provider, for a global client audience, because I offer a comprehensive collection of complementary products/services hard to find elsewhere. [Explore www.tayosolagbade.com, this blog, and the increasingly international profile of fans on my Excel Heaven Software Solutions Facebook page to see what I mean].
And that’s why more or my target audience are asking about/taking up membership of my Inner Circle Membership offer, which offers them lifetime 65% discount access to ALL my products/services.
Final Words: Get Started (and get help you need) from today
Use the ideas offered here to get started. Download Michel Fortin’s e-book to guide your efforts.
However, if you’d like to make faster progress, with less trial and error, especially, to become incomparable as an expert-who-speaks, get Burt Dubin’s Speaker Mentoring Products and/or Services.
Burt’s track record of success over the past 3 decades proves he was incomparable in his day as an international speaker, it also proves that he is incomparable – today – as a mentor to some of the world’s highest paid speakers.
As a result, he is an unstoppable success in the speaking business.
Aspiring others, who diligently DO what he tells them, will become unstoppable too.
If you’d like Burt to help you, click here to contact him now.
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Learn about Burt Dubin’s speaker mentoring products (books, audios etc) below…
If you need help purchasing ANY of Burt’s products (like “Presentation Magic”), call me on +229-66-122-136 (in Benin Republic, my base) or +234-803-302-1263 (in Nigeria) or email tayo@tksola.com
Have a great week :-))
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